Category Archives: ASK SCARLET

Mar 16

I hate to break the news to you, but we’ve already seen 1/4th of this year pass us by! It is the absolutely last day of March and some of you may be wondering, when am I going to find the time to do all of those amazing things that I had on my list of resolutions?!?!

Well, just like we recycle and remix music, past fashion trends, movies and TV shows, we have the pleasure of doing the same thing as it relates to our personal growth and goals.

In January, we placed a strong focus on Goal Settingand in February, we followed it up with Staying Focused. If you’ve found yourself struggling to determine where your time went, what you’ve truly accomplished this year or what your next steps should be, don’t look too far or too hard because the help that you need is just a few lines up highlighted in blue and conveniently underlined.

We spend so much time trying to figure things out or work on ourselves that often times, the answers are right in front of us. If you are trying to focus on professional development for yourself, you have an arsenal of information at your fingertips via the internet. You probably also have a slew of books on your book shelf that you’ve been meaning to visit (or revisit) at some point in your life. You also likely have a network of friends, family acquaintances who are skilled in something that you want to be proficient in…(READ MORE)

Feb 16

What is it that you really want to do? Where do you want to really spend your time?

Although most of us spend a substantial amount of time working hard – really hard, it’s not where we want to spend all of our time.

Most of us want to spend the majority of our time enjoying friends and family, relaxing, taking vacations or participating in our favorite hobbies, activities and celebrations. Most of us do not want to spend every waking hour working our lives away. But, unfortunately, many of us do. We spend more time in our offices or with our co-workers and colleagues than we do on the things that we value the most.

Feb 16

You’ve found the one – the one person who does it for you. They’re pretty much everything that you wanted to have in a mate and things have gone just magically.

So, your relationship progresses, then you decide, let’s expand our relationship a bit. Perhaps you’ve thought, “well, we’re pretty good people, so let’s populate the world with more little people like us”. You agree to procreate and commence to going half on a baby.

Congratulations, the baby arrives and then something less magical appears to begin happening. You and your mate no longer have time for each other anymore. The baby has completely taken over any of the free time and money that you once had.

This is a recent scenario that has been shared with us numerous times and couples are frustrated because they really want that old thing back-the romance, the desire to feel special or just an acknowledgment of the sacrifices they are making to make the relationship work.

So, what do you do if you’re in this situation? What do you do if you feel like your relationship as you once knew it is being hijacked by your children, your career, your parents or your business?

You’re pretty much going to have to revisit the basics. The same things things that you diligently engaged in to initially secure your mate will have to be dusted off and revisited.

Did you once take your mate out on spontaneous dates?

Did you used to send flowers or lunch to them without warning?

Did you used to make their favorite meal or snack and surprise them with it?

Well, guess what? It’s still OK to do these things.

Regardless of which role you play in the relationship, you have an opportunity to make your mate feel special in spite of timing challenges by just revising the simple, little things.

Your career, your children, your entrepreneurial endeavors. All of those things will always require your attention and there will always be items competing for your time. Your mate – the one that once made you feel giddy, special and admired enough to win your heart is still in there.

Scarlet Says…Take the time to tend to what’s important and special to you. You deserve it, your mate deserves it and your healthy, thriving relationship will thank you later.

May 15

Guess what week it is! It’s National Etiquette Week and Scarlet will not miss this opportunity to get in on the action! You can look out for fun opportunities to engage with Scarlet all week long.

Monday: Kick off your week with positivity and thanks! Write 3 people a hand written thank you note thanking them for something that they’ve done for you. Believe me – they’ll remember and it’ll get you some major relationship building points. We stopped by Michael’s and they have a fantastic sale on thank you cards!

Tuesday: Share your etiquette pet peeves! The only way we can really live, work and play together is if we’re aware of how to best engage with each other. Share these pet peeves on our Facebook wall, by tagging us on Twitter or even tagging us in a photo on Instagram! We look forward to seeing your posts! Don’t forget the hashtag: #scarletetiquetteweek2015

Wednesday: What’s one etiquette rule that you think should totally go out the door? We embrace modern, real-world etiquette so we’re dying to know your thoughts! Share your items on our Facebook wall, by tagging us on Twitter or even tagging us in a photo on Instagram! We look forward to seeing your posts! Don’t forget the hashtag: #scarletetiquetteweek2015

Thursday: If there were a Scarlet Award – an award for someone who exemplifies what it means to be considerate of others, embrace perspectives and has a great sense of style, let us know. This doesn’t need to be the quintessential standard of what “style” normally is. This could be someone who just has their own flare, style or look. Who do you know? Let us know! Post about them on our Facebook wall, by tagging us and them on Twitter or even uploading a photo of them and tagging us on Instagram! We look forward to seeing your posts! Don’t forget the hashtag: #scarletetiquetteweek2015

Friday: If you could change your workplace by enforcing this one office etiquette practice. What would it be? Share your item on our Facebook wall, by tagging us on Twitter or even tagging us in a photo on Instagram! We look forward to seeing your posts! Don’t forget the hashtag: #scarletetiquetteweek2015

We are super siked about all your upcoming posts this week! If you don’t want to engage online, but you still want to share, simply email us at info@scarletcomm.com.

We look forward to seeing you again soon!

Until Next Time,

Scarlet

21

Jan 15

So, how would you handle a situation where your 5-year old was sent an invoice for skipping their classmate’s birthday party? Well, this really happened in the UK recently. Scarlet has been asked how to best handle this a number of times over the past few days, so, we’ll chime in!

The reality of life is that things happen and if you haven’t already, you (and your child) will likely miss an event or two that you already RSVP’d for. If you’re RSVP’ing, showing up on time and bringing a gift to birthday parties the majority of the time, missing the mark every now and then shouldn’t ruin your relationships. Now, if you’re a habitual late comer, no-shower and non gift-bringer almost every single time, it’ll all catch up to you.

Was the parent who essentially invoiced the child over the top? Perhaps a tad. I mean, if you chose to invoice, handing it off to a 5-year old who wasn’t going to pay it, certainly wasn’t the best move. Some people are even saying, “well, it was just £15.95 ($24.13)”. This is true, but who are we to count what’s too much wasted money to complain about. The reality, is money was wasted on an accounted for child that was RSVP’d for. While the ability to communicate directly seemed to be impossible in this situation, that in fact would be the best possible course of action.

Scarlet Says…if you can’t make it to an event, (especially one where there is money on the line) reach out to the host as soon as possible, offer your apologies for your inability to attend and consider offering to contribute your personal portion of the event expenses. While this process will work the majority of the time, sometimes it won’t, and that’s where you can rely on your relationship account. If you are constantly putting deposits into your relationships (listening, being a good friend/family member, returning favors, being a person of your word, etc.), then when you mess up and have to take a withdrawal or two, you haven’t stooped into the negative. Party On!

-Scarlet

18

Jan 15

Today, as we formally observe the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Scarlet Says just one simple thing…spend just one day this week doing something selfless for someone else. The simple thing could be in the form of showing:

Forgiveness – an intentional and voluntary process by which someone undergoes a change in feelings and attitude regarding an offense; letting go of negative emotions such as vengefulness, with an increased ability to wish the offender well

Love – a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection

They’re free. They’re pleasant. They’re the right thing to do. Have a great week!

Sep 14

93 is the exact amount of days that we have left until 2015. That beginning number of 365 sure did fly by fast, didn’t it?

Are you feeling overwhelmed? Out of time? Rushed? Unorganized? Anxious?

If you do, take comfort in knowing that you are not alone. For Scarlet, 2014 has been an absolute flash. Things have went great and other things have absolutely went left.

If you’re with the majority of us, feeling like you just need a bit more time to get it all in, I have some bad news…you won’t get it. You are really stuck with only 93 days left this year to conquer your 2014 to-do’s.

Now following that bad news, let me enlighten you with some good news. Instead of ho-humming your way through the next 93 days, how about maximizing what you have to get what you need accomplished?

And as an added bonus, I’ll even tell you how to do it. As you prepare to wrap up the year, utilizing these simple “Scarlet etiquette hacks”, will help you maximize your time, positively invest in your relationships and end the year feeling like you started – hopeful, driven and focused!

1. Start Your Holiday Card Process Now: It seems to never fail. Every year right around December you start getting that horrible feeling in your gut that reminds you that you haven’t even started writing out your season’s greetings or holiday cards for the year. This time, just start now. Why not at least start putting the list together of the people and organizations that you intend to send out cards to? Believe me. Starting now will save you a lot of headaches later.

2. Make Small Daily to do Lists: Do you make lengthy to-do lists knowing that there’s no way that you can tackle 25 tasks in one day? Well, let’s turn a new leaf today! Instead of making unrealistic task lists, try limiting your daily list to five items or less. I’ve found that it is much easier to do 5 tasks impeccably versus trying to do 25 tasks at your less than best capacity and then feeling bad about not completing the list. Give yourself some slack. Put together a reasonable list that you can accomplish and feel good about.

3. Get Off The Holiday Party Merry Go Round: Very soon, the end of year holiday party invites are going to start rolling in. While everybody wants to be invited to fantastic end of year parties, be honest with which ones you should and should not attend. If you know you’re going to find yourself only being able to spend 20 minutes at each party, consider reconsidering. Just face the facts that you are only one person and that it’s best to prioritize which parties you actually should attend and more importantly which ones are value-add to you personally?

4. Revisit Your Goals For 2014: You actually may have accomplished a lot more than you think you have. When is the last time you visited your goals for 2014? While you may be sulking your days away, being hard on yourself and thinking that you’ve accomplished nothing, perhaps you are much further along than you really thought.

5. Take a Social Media Sabbatical: Have you ever found yourself scrolling through your various social networking pages and beginning to feel guilty about yourself, your accomplishments and what you think you should have accomplished by now? This feeling of void and skepticism about your accomplishments happens all the time. It is a direct result of subconsciously or even consciously comparing yourself to people and individuals who are posting on their own social networking pages. Let’s face it, who can really validate if what others post is true? And, think about how much time you actually waste scrolling and running across the same information that you saw the last time you scrolled? Make an honest effort to take breaks from social media and even take a small sabbatical for a little while if you find yourself on there much too much.

Scarlet Says: For the next 93 days, let’s commit to using what we actually have to get what it is that we need. 93 days really is a lot of time to get a lot of stuff done. Even if you have fallen down, fallen off track or life has thrown you some curve balls this year, you can still recoup. You are still here and you still have a seat at the table. So, let’s make the best of what we have left and rock out for the rest of the year. After all, faking it til’ you make it is just a temporary fix and not a long term solution…